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I always hesitate to talk about US politics because of the fact that I have only been there once and I live so far away. But I am interested of course in what is happening there as it affects all of us so much. The topic of interest is now the recent election results which have shown a rejection of the Republican Party and the (re)-emergence of the discourse of hope in the Democratic Party. Specifically have in mind the thesis by Aaron Bastani of Novara Media, London, that "Political parties can now act as hosts for historically ‘third party’ candidates: Sanders, Trump, Corbyn" My reading of the British situation is that Corbyn will form a government possibly within a year. I do not expect the Tory party to survive its full term. He will form a crisis government with three quarters of his party in Parliament hostile to the idea of a socialist Britain. Good luck with that one I say. Now what of the Democrats? Can they parallel the British Labour Party and become the host of a third Party leftist push? After all Sanders did make quite a splash. My answer to that is No, absolutely Never, not ever. Why am I so adamant? For a start, the Democrats have never been a social democratic party. As was pointed out to me Obama never betrayed anyone. He just did the Democratic thing. Sure he advanced a few empty slogans -Yes we can - and the naive filled in the blanks with their hopes and dreams. Moreover since their defeat in the Presidential election there is not sign what soever that the Democrats will take the social democratic path. Their recent good results make the social democratic option even more unlikely. Bastani labels Trump as a traditional Third Party candidate. Wit respect I disagree. The whole Republican establishment swung behind Trump and that is one of the reasons he won. Moreover Trump and the Republicans are not such an unusual or strange mix. I know we all groan over every Trump tweet, but as an oldie I recall Reagan clearly. In his own way he was just as bizarre, though his acting ability tended to disguise that. For example, think about how long after Reagan's death we discovered that he had told Yitzhak Shamir and Wiesenthal about how he, Reagan, had filmed the liberation of Auschwitz. He was never anywhere near the war. So I welcome every advance of the DSA (Allez les rouges!). Of course I welcome the defeats of Republicans but you will have to forgive me if I sit out the celebrations of the Democratic Party's victories. comradely Gary _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
